Writing in The Earth Scientist, the journal of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, NCSE's Steven Newton explains (PDF, pp. 30-33) in detail what's wrong with the new state science standards adopted in Texas in March 2009, focusing on the Earth and Space Science standards in particular.

Senate Bill 873, introduced in the South Carolina Senate on May 21, 2009, and referred to the Senate Committee on Education, would, if enacted, require the state board of education to "examine all curriculum in use in this State that purports to teach students about the origins of mankind to determine whether the curriculum maintains neutrality toward religion."

NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott is to be the first recipient of the Stephen Jay Gould Prize, awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution "to recognize individuals whose sustained and exemplary efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science and its importance in biology, education, and everyday life in the spirit of Stephen Jay Gould."